This poem appeared in WordCityLit in 2023.

A NEW SONG

A horrifying THUNK.
Like someone threw
a bag of guts
at the picture window.
We peer out: it’s not pretty.

A crumpled rag
of a robin lies lifeless
beside the house.

We will have to fetch
the shovel and throw him
on the slop pile—
that decomposing heap
of the Unclean and Unwanted;
the offal of our lives.

Wait. Another robin
has wobbled down
to fret and worry,
peck and hop.
If we brought the shovel,
would she lay down her life
for her friend?
Feign a broken wing
to lure us away
from her Damaged One?
The One Who Makes Mistakes?

The weather is changing.
A raw wind ruffles
his bone chambers
and the robin is raised
from the dead!
With a feathery lurch,
he joins his Faithful One;
together, they behold
the sky seethe, grumble,
and then infuse the earth
with living water.

She seeks shelter in a tree
but he basks in the blustery
baptism—and the One Who Saves
pours a new song into his mouth.

Photo Credit: Katherine Matiko